Brian Stelter: “Be indispensable”

Brian Stelter is one of the youngest reporters for The New York Times. Want to follow in his footsteps? His advice is to follow your passion.

I caught up with Stelter after his presentation as the first keynote speaker for the College Media Advisors conference last month in New York City. He talked about the future of reporting: the rise of specialists with their own brand.

A little over three years ago, Stelter had been a student at the CMA conference and his blogging abilities and attention to his niche led to his current job at The New York Times. His keynote highlighted the importance of deadlines and the importance of journalism as a public service.

Stelter emphasized that all journalists need to think of themselves as web journalists first and build their resume appropriately. He sees all journalism jobs in the future as web-first.

“It’s not enough to just write a story,” said Stelter.

He told the students about following the process through. Reporters need to start pitching ideas on how to cover stories and follow the story all the way through the process, even to headline layout.

Stelter also pushed students to hustle.

“Do the 14-hour days when you’re young,” said Stelter.

He emphasized that in this economy, students need to be willing to work harder than anyone else.

Stelter also talked about the need for young journalists to:

• Always think of yourself as a personal brand
• Collaborate
• Know your basics, be able to write
• Be sure of the facts
• Have a narrow focus
• Get information that no one has seen before

Stelter runs NYT’s Media Decoder blog. Before that he was a blogger. His site, TVNewser, made him a celebrity in media circles. You can follow him on Twitter.